MACCHA-YANTRA – THE ANCIENT INDIAN MARINER’S COMPASS
=============
There were Sanskrit terms for many parts of a ship. The ship’s anchor was known as Nava-Bandhan-Kilaha which literally means ‘A Nail to tie up a ship’ . The sail was called Vata Vastra a which means ‘wind-cloth’. The hull was termed StulaBhaga i.e. an’expanded area’. The rudder was called Keni-Pata, Pata means blade; the rudder was also known as Karna which literally means a ‘ear’ and was so called because it used to be a hollow curved blade, as is found today in exhaust fans. The ship’s keel was called Nava-Tala which means ‘bottom of a ship’. The mast was known as Kupadanda, in which danda means a pole.
Even a sextant was used for navigation and was called Vruttashanga-Bhaga. But what is more surprising is that even a contrived mariner’s compass was used by Indian navigators nearly 1500 to 2000 years ago. This claim is not being made in an overzealous nationalistic spirit. This has in fact been the suggestion of an European expert, Mr. J.L. Reid, who was a member of the Institute of Naval Architects and Shipbuilders in England at around the beginning of the present century. This is what Mr. Reid has said in the Bombay Gazetteer.

“The early Hindu astrologers are said to have used the magnet, in fixing the North and East, in laying foundations, and other religious ceremonies. The Hindu compass was an iron fish that floated in a vessel of oil and pointed to the North. The fact of this older Hindu compass seems placed beyond doubt by the Sanskrit word Maccha Yantra, or fish machine, which Molesworth gives as a name for the mariner’s compass”.
It is significant to note that these are the words of a foreign Naval Architect and Shipbuilding Expert. It is thus quite possible that the Maccha Yantra (fish machine) was transmitted to the west by the Arabs to give us the mariner’s compass of today.

Indian shipping has thus had a long and brilliant history covering a period of about five millennia from the very dawn of India’s civilization in the Indus Valley. Both Hindu and Buddhistic texts are thus replete with references to the sea-borne trade of India that directly and indirectly demonstrate the existence of a national shipping and shipbuilding. It was one of the great national key industry of India. Indeed, all the evidence available clearly shows that for full thirty centuries India stood at the very heart of the commercial world, cultivating trade relations successively with the Phoenicians, Jews, Assyrians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans in ancient times, and Turks, Venetians, Portuguese, Dutch and English in modern times.

Navigation in ancient India
————————-
The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Navgatih’. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit ‘Nou’.

In those days India had colonies, in Cambodia (Kambuja in Sanskrit) in Java, (Chavakam or Yava dwipa) in Sumatra, in Borneo, Socotra (Sukhadhara) and even in Japan. Indian traders had established settlements in Southern China, in the Malayan Peninsula, in Arabia, in Egypt, in Persia, etc., Through the Persians and Arabs, India had cultivated trade relations with the Roman Empire.

Sanskrit and Pali literature has innumerable references to the maritime activity of Indians in ancient times. There is also one treatise in Sanskrit, named Yukti Kalpa Taru which has been compiled by a person called Bhoja Narapati. (The Yukti Kalpa Taru (YKT) had been translated and published by Prof. Aufrecht in his ‘Catalogue of Sanskrit Manu scripts.

A panel found at Mohenjodaro, depicting a sailing craft. Vessels were of many types Their construction is vividly described in the Yukti Kalpa Taru an ancient Indian text on Ship-building.
This treatise gives a technocratic exposition on the technique of shipbuilding. It sets forth minute details about the various types of ships, their sizes, the materials from which they were built. The Yukti Kalpa Taru sums up in a condensed form all the available information

The Yukti Kalpa Taru gives sufficient information and date to prove that in ancient times, Indian shipbuilders had a good knowledge of the materials which were used in building ships. Apart from describing the qualities of the different types of wood and their suitability in shipbuilding, the Yukti Kalpa Taru also gives an elaborate classification of ships based on their size.

The primary division is into 2 classes viz. Samanya (ordinary) and Vishesha (Special). The ordinary type for sea voyages. Ships that undertook sea voyages were classified into, Dirgha type of ships which had a long and narrow hull and the Unnata type of ships which had a higher hull.
The treatise also gives elaborate directions for decorating and furnishing the ships with a view to making them comfortable for passengers. Also mentioned are details about the internal seating and accommodation to be provided on the ships. Three classes of ships are distinguished according to their length and the position of cabins. The ships having cabins extending from one end of the deck to the other are called Sarvamandira vessels.

These ships are recommended for the transport of royal treasure and horses. The next are the Madhyamarnandira vessels which have cabins only in the middle part of their deck. these vessels are recommended for pleasure trips. And finally there is a category of Agramandira vessels, these ships were used mainly in warfare.

Ancient India and Navigation
*********************************

Vasco da Gama discovered sea route to India . Really ? Read on

Portugese explorer Vasco da Gama, who is credited with discovering the sea route to India, actually followed a Gujarati trader from Zanzibar, a new book claimed. Suresh Soni, author of ‘India’s Scientific Heritage’, quoting archaeologist Dr Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, said “He no doubt came to India but not as a discoverer sea-farer but following an Gujarati trader from Zanzibar.” According to Dr Wakankar, Vasco da Gama had recorded in his diary that upon his arrival at Zanzibar in Africa he saw a docked ship three times bigger than his own. He took an African interpreter to meet the owner of that ship Chandan, a Gujarati trader who used to bring pine wood and teak from India along with spices and take back diamonds to Cochin. Vasco da Gama followed Chandan to reach the shores of India, a fact very few in independent India know about, regrets Soni. “This should have been told to the new generation but this is not done,” he added.

The author said Venetian trader and explorer Marco Polo, as early as 13th century, had recounted that ships in India had double boards which were joined together with strong nail and crevices, filled with special kind of gum and were so huge that 300 boatmen were needed to row them. These vessels could take a load of 3000 to 4000 gunny bags having small rooms and arrangements for comfort. Additional layers were added to the bottom, when it gets damaged. Some ships had as many as six layers, the book says. In the 15th century another traveller Nicolo Conti found Indian ships were much bigger than their own ships and their bases were made of three boards to weather formidable storms. Some ships were built in a such a manner that if one part was damaged, the rest could substitute for it. Another traveller Berthma had written how wooden boards were joined to prevent even a drop of water seeping into the ship and that it would take eight days to come to Iran from Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari), the book records.

Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2007/07/14/vasco-da-gama-followed-a-gujarati-trader-1184411295.html